The Jeddah Art Week (JAW), under the patronage of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture and Information and Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, launched its second showcase of the arts on Feb. 1 and will continue until Feb. 6, 2014. The Jeddah Art Week took place at numerous locations throughout the city and centered at Al-Furusiya. Dar Al-Hekma University in partnership with Ibraaz was also part of JAW and hosted a one-day symposium entitled ‘Global Contemporary Art and Its Networks’ on Monday, Feb. 3.

The symposium included two lectures and two roundtable discussions. Dr. Anthony Downey from London conducted two lectures about “What is Contemporary Art?” and “Contemporary art in Middle East, North Africa, and KSA”. The two roundtable discussions were about “Contemporary Art and the Market” and “Contemporary Art Institutions in the Middle East”

“Bringing the dialogue about contemporary art and design to the educational institutes in the Kingdom is crucial to include and engage the younger generation of artists into the discussion,” said Cordula Peters, the program director of the Visual Communication Program.

Dr. Suhair Hassan Al-Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma University, welcomed the guests and opened the symposium by saying, “We at Dar Al-Hekma are so proud to be part of this extraordinary event. Dar Al-Hekma continuously strives to support the arts in its various forms and believes that this kind of symposium will reflect positively on our students and the Saudi community as a whole as art has the power to stretch the minds of people beyond the boundaries of textbooks.”

Saudi artists Abdulnasser Gharem, Faisal Samra and Maha Fataini joined in the discussions with other local and international academics and industry professionals to look at the background of contemporary art and its global development, specifically in the Middle East. Among the international speakers was Dr. Anthony Downey whose lecture was about contemporary art in the Middle East, North Africa and KSA. The markets for contemporary art, collecting art, and the developments of new institutions across the Middle East were also discussed.

As part of the second Jeddah Art Week, this symposium came during a week of contemporary art events of unparalleled variety. It brought together the best of art and culture from within Jeddah and beyond. During the week, the visitors to JAW had the chance to see and appreciate visual culture, including paintings, sculptures, photography and multimedia.